


Florilegia: FFXIVWrite2020

by redshiftnova



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fae Shenanigans, Gen, Merlwyb x The Ocean OTP, Tags will vary wildly from chapter to chapter, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020, and sometimes the trying is the important part, okay that didn't last long, you know what i tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redshiftnova/pseuds/redshiftnova
Kudos: 5
Collections: Emet-Selch's Wholesomely Debauched Bookclub FFXIV-Writes 2020 Collection





	1. Crux

##  [Day 1: Crux](https://redshiftnova.tumblr.com/post/628093682006016000/day-1-crux)

crux

The decisive or most important point at issue. 

Part of Speech: noun 

Example: the crux of the matter is that attitudes have changed 

Synonyms: nub, heart, essence, most important point, central point, main point, essential part, core, centre, nucleus, kernel

———————–

Urianger leaned back from his desk and sighed. The pixies investigating his bookshelves ignored him, which was probably for the best. _Ach, Moenbryda, thy absence wears heavily ‘pon mine heart, and most keenly when mine only company cares for naught but mischief._ There was a **thump** behind him, then quiet tittering. _….And though memory and time make perfect all the dead’s flaws, never once did thy teasing involve damage to research materials._   
  
He was not going to look behind him. He was _not_ going to give the tiny winged hellions the _satisfaction_ of turning his head to see what they were _doing to his books_. Which meant that he was limited to sitting, staring resolutely at the wall on the other side of the room, periodically shuffling his deck of Sharlayan divining cards and taking infrequent sips of briny grass tea.

Because of _course_ this morning had started with finding the salt and sugar exchanged - which, again, he ignored on principle - and his typical morning tea canister stuffed with dried hillgrass instead of the precious hoarded tea leaves from the Crystarium’s grounds. Which he had brewed just as if it were real tea, and stirred in the salt as if it were sugar, and sat down to drink in his comfiest reading chair, and made the same appreciative hum he did every other morning of his stay in Il Mheg so far.  
  
That had bought him a half-bell’s reprieve while his tormenting entourage regrouped to plan; he’d used it to bathe and locate his clean laundry without further fae assistance. Thus out of trial and error had he found the method to maintain his sanity - the more thoroughly he ignored their outrageous games, the longer and more frequent those brief spans of peace became. Once he had figured out the system by which fae logic (illogic) functioned, life here had gotten much more straightforward. Urianger was _good_ at organized systems. It was part of what made him a good scholar, and - if he allowed himself a moment of pride - an outstanding arcanist. Patterns and systems.

Patterns and systems and a deck of cards with anatomical sketches in aether-infused ink now defacing each Major Arcana.  
  
 _Damn and blast._  
  
Silently, and without changing his expression, he shuffled and dealt a spread as if nothing were out of the ordinary.  
  
Because at his core, Urianger Augurelt was a stubborn contrarian, and he would _not be bested_ by an _inconvenience of faeries._


	2. Day 2: Sway

sway

Move or cause to move slowly or rhythmically backward and forward or from side to side.   
Part of Speech: verb   
Example: he swayed slightly on his feet   
Synonyms: swing, shake, oscillate, rock, undulate, move from side to side, move to and fro, move back and forth

A rhythmical movement from side to side.   
Part of Speech: noun   
Example: the easy sway of her hips   
Synonyms: swing, sweep, wave, roll, shake, movement, oscillation, undulation

Rule; control.   
Part of Speech: noun   
Example: the part of the continent under Russia's sway   
Synonyms: jurisdiction, rule, government, sovereignty, dominion, control, command, power, authority, ascendancy, domination, mastery

* * *

———————– 

The Rhotano was a perfect pane of glass, as far as the eye could see. Iron-grey sky above, irong-grey sea below, and nothing but the chill stillness of the air between.  
  
The tiny cutter was dead in the water, with no wind to fill her sails and no conjurer aboard to coax the sea into returning her itself. And that was _just fine_ with the lanky Sea Wolf woman lounging in the cockpit, thank-you-very-much. One ankle hooked through the wheel, an arm dangling over the side, other leg propped on the opposing bench, and head pillowed on an old jacket shoved up between the jib sheet winch and the cabin doorway.   
  
The brisk air and the water lapping at her outstretched hand should have been uncomfortably cold, but a life spent mostly sail had turned it into a comforting embrace. Ice in her veins, some of her soldiers had said when she first took the helm of Limsa. Just as soon shoot you as look at you.  
  
 _Close, but not quite,_ she thought and chuckled to herself. A brief breeze pressed against her, warning of the midday doldrum’s end. _Not ice but ocean, and my heartbeat the sway of the mast._ She stretched, arms over her head, toes pointing and back arching, and sighed contentedly.   
  
As if on cue, her linkpearl squawked. _Oh, salty hells, of course you do. Blasted contraption._ Reaching up with her dry hand, she tapped it to answer. “This is the Admiral. Yes? I’m sure he bloody well thinks it is, but he and his crew can shove off ‘til I get back to port. Thankee, Eynzahr. Yes. No, the lee of - aye, old fishing spot. Hells, mayhaps a bell or two? Tch. They can _wait.”_  
  
With a grumbled string of oaths, Merlwyb disentangled herself from her lounging spot. _Never a dull moment..._


End file.
